For-Profit Cos. Can't Exercise Religion, 3rd Circ. Says

Law360, Philadelphia (July 26, 2013, 4:20 PM EDT) -- A split Third Circuit panel ruled Friday that a Mennonite-owned furniture manufacturing business did not qualify for a religious exemption to contraception mandates in the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, saying that a for-profit corporation can't engage in religious exercise.

The majority, represented by Judge Thomas Vanaskie and Judge Robert Cowen, ruled that while the Hahn family, owners of Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp., were free to exercise religious beliefs in their personal lives, they could not extend those beliefs into the operation of...